Tuesday, March 24, 2009

¡La Salsa Es Posible!

Yes, that's the gaping maw of a burrito in close-up. No, the story is not that we eat burritos in this household often.
The story is that I made the hot salsa in the fuzzed-out bottle back there.
I made it this morning, funneled it into a clean bottle (still gotta scrape that old label off), and we used it for lunch.
It tasted "proper." Hot, vinegary, a little salt and some elusive spices. The texture is less homogeneous than I would like just now, so I'll keep experimenting. Should I have scraped out the seeds? Should I have cooked the salsa briefly so particles wouldn't separate from liquids? I don't know. I'll find out.
But you're dying to know how I did this.
Here's my standard recipe, which I invented this morning:
1. Late last summer, pickle some sliced hot green peppers in a brine of your own choosing. The (purchased) peppers were called pimientos de padrón, but they looked much more like fleshy jalapeños. Fleshy and hot is what you want. The brine was a heated mixture of vinegar and salt water, seasoned with little, teensy shakes of dried garlic, cumin and cinnamon. (Cinnamon is the sekrit ingredient; a little goes a long way.) Pop it into a jar and refrigerate.
Don't ask me for proportions; this was a long time ago!
2. Today, scoop out some pepper slices along with their brine (in a proportion that you deem perfect) and blend this thoroughly in a blender. Low speed is not enough; you want "purée" if you got it. I serendipitously scooped out and blended exactly the amount that would fill this small salsa bottle (remember, clean!). I may have been a little skimpy on brine, because the salsa is a bit sludgy; I later added some water to the bottle (after we had made room in it by having burritos).
3. Struggle with a funnel and a spoon, trying to get this brew into the bottle. Make green splashes everywhere (My sweatshirt looks like baby Shrek had a little "whoops" on my shoulder, burp).
4. Be very proud.

12 comments:

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Did it make you want to dance?

Chilebrown said...

I am proud of You!

Anonymous said...

Summer. I remember Summer.
2006, I think it was.

cookiecrumb said...

Mouse: El bailar muy caliente!

Chilebrown: I wanted to bring you some, but it's not perfect yet.

Judith: You don't have an attitude problem, you've got a latitude problem.

peter said...

I have 2 jars of pickled serranos in the back of the fridge: one with carrots and one with lime wedges. A spin in the blender might be just what el doctor ordered.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

usted moza descarada descarada usted!

cookiecrumb said...

Peter: Lime wedges! Cool idea. Let me know how it comes out; I'm still tinkering (but the flavor is perfect).

Mouse: You just told me to do what to myself? Shamelessly?

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Cookie, I have no idea what I said, I blame Babelfish and my non-Spanish-speaking upbringing :)

michael, claudia and sierra said...

in a proportion that you deem perfect

supposedly gwynne has that shit down pat. mario said so in the ny times... she is very good with proportions! and now we know.

Anonymous said...

Con salsa TODO es posible!

Di from San Francisco

cookiecrumb said...

Di: Arriba! Y Aruba. See you there, if not in SF.

Chocolate Kisses said...

Mexican food and I'm there - this ones definitely a winner. Thanks!